Week 9:

The best game features the reigning Super Bowl champs versus a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs for 14 years. Denver travels to Oakland in a battle of AFC West rivals on Sunday night. Both clubs are 6-2, tied for the division lead – and one game behind the Patriots for home field in the AFC playoff race. The Raiders won the last meeting in December to snap an eight game losing streak to the Broncos.

CBS owns the NFL Week Nine doubleheader, and two games will dominate their network distribution. AN AFC North rivalry will air in most markets early, followed by a game featuring […]

There are plenty of division rivalry games in Week Nine. The November schedule starts with Atlanta at Tampa Bay on Thursday 11/3. The Bucs shocked the Falcons 31-24 back in Week One at Atlanta. The Falcons rebounded to win four straight – including back-to-back victories over last season’s Super Bowl participants – but have lost their last two games.

Elsewhere Pittsburgh is at Baltimore for their biannual AFC North slugfest

To me though the biggest concern is not one of the wide receivers, but tight end Jordan Reed. Reed is too quick for any linebacker to cover him, and at 6’2″ 237 it is a very difficult task for a corner to bring him down. The Patriots have had issues with opposing tight ends for several years now, and Reed could cause the Pats fits. In 4½ games this year – Reed has missed time due to concussions – the tight end has 350 yards receiving with three touchdowns and 22 first downs, catching 35 of the 47 passes (74%) thrown his way. Reed leads Washington in first downs and is tied for the lead in receiving yards and touchdowns, despite the time he has missed. To me the primary challenge is to stop Reed – much the way the Pats did against Tony Gonzalez a few years ago – and dare Cousins to beat the Patriots deep.

The undefeated Patriots are setting viewership ratings records, but apparently that’s not enough for one network to broadcast the team throughout all of New England.

The New England Patriots have opened up as 12½ point favorites over the Washington Redskins, the largest spread of the 13 games being played. The last time the Patriots were double-digit favorites was in week three when the Pats were favored by 13½ over Jacksonville; New England won that game by the score of 51-17.
In other division action the Dolphins are 2½ point underdogs at Buffalo, and the Jets are eight-point home favorites versus Jacksonville. Best games of the week appear to be Green Bay at Carolina and Denver at Indianapolis; both of those road teams are three-point favorites.